Across the briny blue: After weeks of practice, the crew set sail

Sunlight sparkled on the waves like thousands of diamonds as the shallop Elizabeth Tilley headed out of Plymouth Bay under tow.

By Casey Meserve

Sunlight sparkled on the waves like thousands of diamonds as the shallop Elizabeth Tilley headed out of Plymouth Bay under tow.

The 10-member crew laughed and chatted as they passed the hundreds of boats and their passengers getting ready to head out for the afternoon.

It was Sunday and the crew of the Tilley wanted to get in position before the show started.

The shallop rode over the waves as the fishing boat Wavelength towed it past Long Beach and past Saquish.

It was almost 4 p.m. when the crew looked back and saw what they were waiting to see.

Over the dunes of Long Beach, deep in the gray haze were two tall masts, looking like two thin toothpicks from more than a mile away. The Mayflower II was underway.
The Tilley’s blue-shirted crew cheered when they saw the masts. We had been looking forward to this for 12 weeks, ever since seven of their number showed up at the state pier on the Plymouth waterfront one evening in May. For 12 weeks, they trained on the Mayflower, learning to sail the square-rigged vessel for this day.

These seven didn’t make the crew. Four of us, including myself, were alternates, the other three just kept showing up Tuesdays and Thursdays. They loved the work.
All of us were disappointed that we didn’t make the crew, until our crewmate, Tracy Dieselman, had a suggestion.

“We could all go out on the Tilley,” she said last Thursday night. Dieselman is a member of the Pilgrim John Howland Society. She’s sailed the shallop, built for the society by Plimoth Plantation marine artisans, several times before, and was planning to take it out with a small crew of fellow Howland descendants. We jumped on her invitation.

So after 12 weeks of practicing on a 17th century replica square rigger, we were going to sail a 17th century replica coastal trading vessel, the shallop.

It was a fabulous day. The Tilley’s crew lounged about the deck, taking turns at her tiller, trying to keep the 30-foot wooden vessel behind the Wavelength. We had a picnic, waving at tour boats passing us. Flashes of light told us we were being photographed. We turned our blue-shirted backs to the crowds, showing off the white words written there, “Mayflower II 50th anniversary sail CREW.”

Wavelength’s crew finally released us and we raised the Tilley’s sails. We turned every so often to watch the oncoming traffic of boats that surrounded Mayflower II.

More than 100 boats stretched across the channel between Long Beach and Saquish. Towering above them, a majestic sight, was the Mayflower being towed out to sea by a tugboat.

As the ship passed the Gurnet lighthouse, the tug set Mayflower free. Her crew set the sails, which billowed out, filling with the breeze. A cheer went up across the bay as the grand old lady sailed past us. Some of her crew, our mates, waved to us as they sailed away.